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THE TOMAHAWK. A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATI...
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No. i4o] . LONDON, JANUARY 8, 1870. [Pri...
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MR. LOWERS NEW YEAR'S GIFT.
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The question, whether Mr. Lowe's ingenio...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...
THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . J o ( Kiitefc fcp frxtt ) UT a ^ etkett .
* ¦ ' ¦ -i . , ,. o " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRjETERIT . "
No. I4o] . London, January 8, 1870. [Pri...
No . i 4 o ] . LONDON , JANUARY 8 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence .
Mr. Lowers New Year's Gift.
MR . LOWERS NEW YEAR'S GIFT .
The Question, Whether Mr. Lowe's Ingenio...
The question , whether Mr . Lowe ' s ingenious method of collecting the taxes will produce more profit to the Revenue , or more misery to the individual subjects of the Realm , will soon be settled . We have always from , the first maintained that the Budget was a most mischievous one ; that it was most unjust
to the poorer taxpayers ; that it was made for the convenience and benefit of the wealthy only ; that it was a dishonest one , for in pretending to grant remission of taxation , it really imposed the present burdens in such a way as to make them ten times heavier than any bond-Jide increase .
"We take our stand upon this point : that no man who had really studied the happiness of the nation would have proposed such a Budget ; and for this reason : that the injury and loss inflicted on the majority of the taxpayers , viz ., those of small or moderate incomes paid quarterly , or monthly , or
weekly ; in fact , all those who derive their incomes from their own industry , is far greater than the gain to the community at large ; even accepting Mr . Lowe ' s remission of taxation as the best that could have been made . Mr . Lowe has taken a course very unusual on the part of a Cabinet Minister , he has written
to a newspaper in defence of his policy . This is a recognition of the fourth estate , such as the celebrated manifesto of the Queen to the Xi 7 nes alone can equal . Mr . Lowe says "he has been able to take one penny off the income tax , to repeal the corn and fire insurance duties , to
abolish the license for the sale of tea , and to remodel the taxes on locomotion . " These are the benefits which we get in return for the hardship of having to pay three months of the current financial year ' s taxes in advance , as well as all the assessed taxes of the current calendar yearwithin 20 days . Let us see
how the account really stands . , To a rich man we admit the convenience . If you have , j £ i , ooo at your bank you may just as well draw a cheque for or £$ ° t ght and smaller get rid o nes . yo But ur how taxes is it with nce , the as dra man w fo of ur small , or six or ,
moderate salary , paid quarterly . He gets his cheque , for ^ 12 5 say , on December 31 st . This is two quarter ' s salary . He has besid to pay es out lan of this tax , for house one duty man , servant & c , ^ 1 , 3 for the armorial current bearings financial , year before the 8 th of January ; and for the current calendar the year inco before me tax the , 20 ^ 12 th of 1 0 January s . This , for makes the excis , £ 29 e 10 lic s , e , nces leav , ^ 4 , for m , £ 95 1 os . to pay his Christmas bills , if he has any , and his expenses in the current quarter . Now , if we spread the taxation over
the four quarters we get £ 7 17 s . 6 d . as the payment to be made , leaving that all £ thi 117 s ^ 12 500 s . 6 a d year . for current is absorbed expenses by the . We ordinary will expendi presume - ture of each year . A person of these means , adopting the ready between money princi ^ 95 ple 10 , co s . uld and live £ very 117 comfortabl 12 s . 6 d . y being ; but the as difference much as ^ 22 2 s . 6 d . , is quite sufficient to compel the , taxpayer to
abandon the ready money principle , and take to the credit principle , —or to live in a very different style for the first quarter . The second quarter of rlie year is the quarter which usually demands some sacrifice of its income towards necessary recreation , and change of air ; so that to recover the excess of expenditure in
famil taxation y much on the of their first quarter annual , holiday he must . This deny may himself all seem a slight matter , but it seems to us a very great cruelty , and to amount to deliberate confiscation ; for , after all , what do these taxes represent ? They represent to the taxpayer the benefits
of Government , and the valuable services of the army , navy , & c , kept by the nation for the general good . But before he has received any benefit , the taxpayer has to pay for the chance of getting very indifferently governed . If a man buys a house , and chooses to pay ready money for it , instead of paying rent
by the quarter , well and good j he has a solid consideration for his money . . Or if any one advances money on the title deeds of a property of which he will not come into possession for a year , he has something for his expenditure . But it appears to us it would be just as fair for our servants to ask us to pay their
wages one quarter in advance , as for a Chancellor of the Exchequer , who hungers after popularity , to extort taxes in advance , because he wants to have the credit of having reduced the taxation . It is mere equivocation to say that really we are not paying
in advance , because we are . The assessment under which we pay in January may be for the year ending 20 th March , 1870 ; but the question is , do we not virtually pay four times the sum , at the most inconvenient portion of the year , that we should ordinarily ? What neither Mr . Lowe nor these loud-mouthed
supporters of his—who think anything done by a member of Mr . Gladstone ' s administration must needs be true and just , or who having plenty of available funds themselves , rather look forwai'cl to the novelty of paying for anything three months before they ought , instead of twelve months afterwards—will see is this , that
to a man whose capital is all invested in business , or whose income is earned by his own labour , therefore dependent on his health , and paid only at stated intervals , after it has heen earned , it makes all the difference whether he has to pay a debt to the
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Jan. 8, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_08011870/page/1/
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